California Antiquarian Book Fair

After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, organizers of the 54th California International Antiquarian Book Fair are thrilled for its return to the Bay Area on Friday, February 11 through Sunday, February 13, 2022, at the Oakland Marriott City Center featuring the collections and rare treasures of 120 booksellers from around the world, the three-day Book Fair offers a rich selection of manuscripts, early American and European literature, modern first editions, children’s books, maps and autographs, as well as antiquarian books on history, science, law, architecture, cooking, wine and a wide range of other topics. 

This year’s Book Fair will include a major historical exhibit on wine and viticulture, courtesy of the library at the University of California, Davis, which has been described as "the greatest wine library in the world.” In addition to books and journals, the collection includes maps, pamphlets, wine labels, wine merchant and wine auction catalogs, menus and manuscripts from renown grape and wine scientists, papers of wine writers and the archives of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) and the Wine Institute. These collections are held in trust by the UC Davis Library for the world. A representative selection of the collections will be on display at the Book Fair in Oakland. There will also be additional book-related lectures and displays throughout the weekend.

Other highlights of the Book Fair include an interactive and entertaining exhibition that showcases local artists and organizations specializing in book arts. Local libraries and universities will be onsite with information on their collections. Calligraphers, bookbinders, and a small press operator will once again be creating unique souvenirs for attendees to take home. 

In recognition of the next generation of bibliophiles, the California Book Fair is pleased to host the collection of Stacy Shirk, the winner of this year’s California Young Book Collectors’ Prize. The competition was open to collectors living in California aged 35 and under. All collections of books, manuscripts, and ephemera were considered, no matter their monetary value or subject. Ms. Shirk’s collection features books of fairy tales as “cultural and historical touchstones," reflecting transformations in society, such as Jewish tales published in the traumatic 1940s, or new twists on old standards that appeared after the rise of second-wave feminism.

Additionally, in celebration of young collectors, all students with a current valid student ID will be admitted to the Book Fair for free.

Designed with the budding collector in mind, "Book Fair Finds" is a program in which dealers spotlight more affordable items priced at $100 or less. Visitors can look for the Book Fair Finds sign in participating booths.  

To provide the safest and most positive experience possible the California International Antiquarian Book Fair organizers are strictly following the most current Covid-19 capacity rules and guidelines from the State of California, Alameda County, and the CDC. Show management will continue to monitor these recommendations and reserves the right to modify the Attendance Procedures and Guidelines for the fair accordingly. You can find the Book Fair’s Covid-19 protocols on their website.

The Book Fair’s schedule will also include the following events and special exhibits, free with Fair admission:

Saturday, February 12, 2022

12:45 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.
Good Words Make Better Wine: Building the UC Davis Library's Wine Writers Collection
With Jullianne H. Ballou

In 2018, the UC Davis Library began to expand its Wine Writers Collection, which includes the papers and electronic files of people who have written or podcasted about California wine from the 1950s to the present. These archives — and the ephemera they include — extend the literary works in the library’s circulating and rare wine book and manuscript collections, which date to the start of the twelfth century. UC Davis's wine library documents the evolution of a genre and of a drink that's both agricultural product and art.

Jullianne H. Ballou
As the first Warren Winiarski Fellow at the UC Davis Library, Jullianne Ballou curates the library’s Wine Writers Collection. Previously, she led digital projects at the Harry Ransom Center, including projects to digitize and build online archives of the personal papers, photographs, and creative works of Gabriel García Márquez and Dylan Thomas. She became interested in literary collections while working as an editor of the Oxford American magazine and, before that, with The University of Texas Press. She lives on an almond orchard in Woodland, CA.

2 p.m. – 3 p.m.

The UC Davis Library Wine Collection: Origins, Highlights, and Use
With Christine Cheng and Axel Borg

The grape and wine collections at the UC Davis Library are widely regarded as the finest in the world. Drawing on rare books and items featured in the special exhibit, Axel Borg, Bibliographer Emeritus, will talk about the breadth and depth of the wine collections at UC Davis as well as how the collections were built. Christine Cheng, Instruction and Outreach Librarian, will discuss the materiality of items and how they are used in the context of instruction.

Christine Cheng
Christine is the Instruction and Outreach Librarian for Archives and Special Collections at the University of California, Davis. She designs library services and education programs that enhance access to and understanding of rare books, manuscripts, and archival materials. Her interests are promoting and developing skills in primary source literacy.

Axel Borg
Graduating from Pomona College in 1976, Axel was commissioned in the United States Army as an Armor Officer. In 1983 he left the Army to become a librarian. Axel earned his MLIS at UC Berkeley and served as an agriculture librarian at Berkeley. In 1986 Axel took a position as a general science librarian at UC Santa Cruz and in 1988 he began his service at UC Davis as the Wine and Food Science Bibliographer. While at UC Davis, Axel worked with Professor Maynard A. Amerine and was co-author on his last book, A Bibliography on Grapes, Wines, Other Alcoholic Beverages, And Temperance Published in The United States Before 1901, published by UC Press. Axel retired from UC Davis after 37 years of service as a librarian in the UC System.

4 p.m. – 5 p.m.

Collecting Oakland’s Activist Roots: The Black Panthers and Beyond
With Lisbet Tellefsen & Alexander Akin

Lisbet Tellefsen, former publisher of the Black lesbian journal Aché; has become a noted archivist of materials from the Black Panther Party and other activist organizations. Many items from her collection are now at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, and her papers now reside at Yale University’s Beinecke Library. The recent book “Seize the Time” is based on her extensive archive of materials related to the activist Angela Davis. Alexander Akin, co-owner of Bolerium Books, has gone from producing and distributing material as an activist, to collecting it as a historian (he received his PhD in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University in 2009), to selling it as a dealer. His recent projects include an emphasis on Asian American activism in the Bay Area. The speakers will feature a selection of original ephemera from Oakland’s many historical social movements, discussing how these materials bring alive the people and events of the past while highlighting their continuing relevance to contemporary society. When working with the relatively recent ephemeral materials of social movements, why do we collect, how do we collect, what do such collections mean for our understanding of the past - and how can a budding collector get started?

Sunday, February 13, 2022

1 p.m. – 2 p.m.

Sherlock Holmes in Popular Culture
With Glen Miranker

Grolier Club member and major Sherlock Holmes collector, Glen S. Miranker will give a public presentation on Sherlock Holmes in popular culture.

The Book Fair is BARTable! The event’s venue in downtown Oakland is an added convenience for bibliophiles. The Oakland Marriott City Center is just steps away from the 12th Street BART Station, making it easily accessible to attendees from San Francisco and all over the East Bay. Out-of-town visitors will appreciate staying onsite at the Marriott, plus fair visitors arriving at both Oakland and San Francisco airports can take BART directly to the new venue. 

The 54th California International Antiquarian Book Fair will be held at the Oakland Marriott City Center at 1001 Broadway in downtown Oakland from 3 p.m. - 8 p.m. on Friday, February 11; 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. on Saturday, February 12; and 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. on Sunday, February 13.

Friday VIP Opening Day admission tickets are $25 and are good for return visits throughout the duration of the Fair; Saturday tickets are $15 and are good for readmission on Sunday; Sunday tickets are $10. For more information about tickets or exhibiting, visit www.cabookfair.com. Free admission for all students with a current valid student ID.

For more information about the 54th California International Antiquarian Book Fair, please visit the website at www.cabookfair.com or contact Fair Managers Doucet Productions at info@cabookfair.com, (415) 919-9220.